, 1887-08-05
THE GOVERNORS TRIP.
His Excellency Believes in a Great
Future For Wyoming.
The Excellent Prospects of Lusk.
Douglas, Buffalo and Lander.
Gold Mining at Atlantic City BY
Hydraulic Process.
The Wonderful Oil Deposits in
Fremont County.

Eyes, sir, we did have a fine trip, and
thoroughly enjoyed it." remarked Gov
ernor Moonlight to a reporter last even
ing. MIR. Miller and myself travelled
over 1000 miles in a light wagon during
the past six weeks, haven't met with an
accident or lost so much as a pocket
handkerchief on the journey; have been
Hospitality, and [ might say, enthusiast
cally received everywhere and have
viewed the finest country upon which the
sur shines. Wyoming is a magnificent
country and her citizens vie with Ken
tuckians in establishing the truth of the
aphorism that hospitality is a cardinal
virtue.
"Lusk was the first settlement we Wis
tied. 1t is a thriving and growing town
peopled by energetic and Industrious men
and women. The rich land about the
place is being settled upon by a good
class of citizens, and the loamy soil is pro-
ducing splendid crops without irrigation.
DOUGLAS.
1--WE followed the Wyoming bran CHI of
the Northwestern railway from Lusk to
Douglas. The latter place far exceeded
my expectations. Where | anticipated
finding a tent and adobe settlement, with
here and there a hastily constructed frame
house, was a miniature city in a delightful
location, maintaing two banks, a live
newspaper, and commercial concerns oc.
cupying substantial brick structures.
Douglas is now anxiously awaiting the ad-
vent of railroad communication with this
city, and the sooner it is established the
better for all concerned, though Douglas
is bound to become a city at all events.
1t is the fervent wish Of her citizens, and
[ am sure that Ch~eyennites will heartily
endorse it, that the Cheyenne & Northern
connect with the Northwestern at the
earliest possible date. The necessity of
this action becomes more apparent as the
wealthy agricultural region of johnson
and Fremont counties is encountered.
Douglas already enjoys a healthy trade
from western points, and the Northwest
ern at its present terminus is a healthy
rival for the Northern Pacific"
BUFFALO.
AT Buffalo the johnson county fair
was in progress. The association was
very successful in conducting a legitimate
and paying enterprise. The agricultural
and horticultural exhibits forcibly remind
ed me of a county fair in Kansas. One
incident impressed itself upon my mind,
and that is that during our stay in the
city not a drunken man appeared upon
the streets. Buffalo has all the natural
advantages and requisites for the estab-
lishment of a great city. 1t has -four
mills, plenty of water, and wheat and oat
fields adjacent. All it needs at present is
railway accommodations, immigration and
increased prosperity would be the natural
result of a mean of rapid and convenient
communication with the outside world.
LANDER.
Lander is another town where the in
gradients necessary for the formation of a
great metropolis are Immediately at hand.
1t is surrounded by the finest agricultural
region in the West. The Wind River
valley is the largest depression of that
character in Wyoming. In a few years
farmers will occupy all the valley, while
their small herds OF cattle will Craze upon
the hills. For this reason, if for no
other, Lander has a brilliant future. The
great and pressing need of that
ity is a -four mill, or several of them.
They raise enormous crops of pats with
but little labor, but import -four from
Colorado. At present the farmers dis,
pose of their grain to the government at a
handsome figure, but soon so many mil
lions of bushels of oats will be harvested
that prices will drop as a natural conse-
quence of the competition. The citizens
of Lander are straining every nerve to
secure a railway and with a fair prospect
to ultimate success.
II RESERVATION.
AT Fort Washable, near Lander, is
the seat of government of the Indian
reservation. which occupies a great por-
ton of the Wind river valley. Old
Washakie, who somewhat resembles the
late Henry Ward Beecher, is chief of
Shoshones and Arapahoes. Twelve In
dams erected log houses this year, and
each received a stove from the agent as a
reward. The chief means well, but lacks
in manual industry. He made a rather
one. sided proposition to the agent on the
agricultural question recently; he said:
you plough; YOU dig; you plant; you
pick weeds; me pull vegetables" The
Shoshones are more moral, tractable and
docile than the Arapahoes. . There are
about 900 of the former on the reserva-
ton and few more of the latter.
OIL DEPOSITS.
Twelve miles south OF Lander are the
wonderful Graf oil wells owned by an
Omaha syndicate. Despite the fact that
the drillinPs have been plugged the luid